Laura Wang-Woodford, a director of a lucrative Singapore-based import-export business, was arrested in December as she entered the United States, the Justice Department said late on Friday.

Monarch Aviation Pte Ltd allegedly exported military aircraft parts from US suppliers to Singapore without proper licenses, falsely identifying them as civilian components.

It also allegedly resold commercial aircraft parts illegally to a company in Teheran, in violation of the International Emergency Powers Act, a US law barring certain transactions to protect against national security threats.

Wang-Woodford pleaded not guilty at her arraignment on Friday and was ordered to be detained without bail.

At the time of her arrest, Wang-Woodford was carrying two merchandise catalogs from a Chinese company listed as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction by the US Treasury Department, the indictment read.

Items advertised in the catalogs of the China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation included surface-to-air missile systems and rocket launchers, according to the indictment.

Wang-Woodford was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on December 23 as she attempted to enter the United States for the first time in years.

She left Singapore on December 18 and spent five days in China before travelling to the United States, according to the DOJ.

Wang-Woodford runs Monarch Aviation together with her British-born husband Brian Woodford, who was also indicted and is still at large.

Wang-Woodford owns half its shares, and carried business cards identifying her as its director at the time of her arrest, according to the indictment. -- AFP